ROWAN VINE is looking forward to getting dog’s abuse from the Parkhead stands tonight – as it will remind him of one of the highlights of his career.

The St Johnstone striker scored the winner against the SPL champions at McDiarmid Park in September.

Now the 29-year-old is aiming to pile on the agony by scoring again to hand Celtic a League Cup KO.

Self-confessed Rangers fan Vine said: “Venues don’t come any tougher than Celtic Park. I suppose I might be in for a hot reception from the Celtic fans after scoring the winner against them in Perth last month.

“I enjoyed that – it was a highlight of my career. I remember scoring on my debut at Brentford as a young lad and it’s up there with that one.

“If you score a winner against Celtic it’s remembered for the rest of your days and I just hope Celtic supporters remember me for that.

“I’m the kind of guy who would lap up any abuse that came my way, I really would enjoy it. It would be great to get another goal against Celtic in the Cup.”

Saints are on a decent run, having reeled off five SPL wins and a draw in their last six league games and narrowly failed on Saturday to post a club record of six straight victories.

Vine reckons the Perth side can take advantage of the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Hoops this season who have risen to the occasion in Europe but found domesticity a slog at times.

He said: “There are two sides to Celtic this season. They are trying to juggle the demands of the Champions League with the fans’ expectations to win every game on the domestic front.

“They were so unlucky in Barcelona to lose that last-gasp goal. It must have been hard coming back and having to pick themselves up for Kilmarnock but the pressure is on the team to win every game in Scotland.

“Kilmarnock have shown teams can win in Glasgow. I know it’s not often Celtic lose two games in a row in Scotland but that’s the challenge for us if we are to progress in the Cup.

“I believe this is a game we can win. I genuinely believe we can repeat our win in Perth when we were on a bad run and it was the last thing most people expected.

“The pressure is all on Celtic, especially after losing at the weekend, because they are out to win every competition.

“We are going there happy with our league form, which has to be the priority, but it’s important to a club like St Johnstone to have good cup runs.

“Some of the lads would rather have kept Celtic for later in the competition but it’s the tie I wanted. It should be a great occasion.”

Saints boss Steve Lomas insists even underdogs can have their day, especially in cup ties.

Lomas said: “This tie is as tough it gets for us. Neil Lennon was disappointed with his side’s intensity levels against Killie so I imagine it will be really intense for us.

“We just have to focus on what we have to do. Despite having beaten them already this season we are still huge underdogs. They have a top quality squad to pick from so the bookies will have the odds stacked against us.

“But there is a tremendous carrot there for us to get to the semis.

“We know we will have to be at our best. We can’t play poorly and expect to win — it isn’t going to happen, it’s as simple as that — but we’re looking forward to it and we like proving people wrong.”